Reliable and efficient gas turbines have been developed and are utilized in a myriad of industrial processes to drive process equipment (e.g., compressors, pumps, etc.) or generators to thereby provide a local source of mechanical power or electricity. To drive the process equipment and the generators, conventional gas turbines may receive and compress air (e.g., ambient air) in a compressor, combust the compressed air with fuel in a combustor to increase the thermal energy thereof, and expand the combusted air through a turbine to convert the thermal energy to kinetic or mechanical energy. While conventional gas turbines have proven to be reliable for driving the process equipment and the generators, the combustion of the fuel in the combustor generates undesirable compounds (e.g., carbon monoxide, NOx, etc.), which are then vented or exhausted to the atmosphere.
In view of the foregoing, conventional gas turbines may often utilize an alternative source of thermal energy (e.g., an oxidizer), in lieu of the combustor, to gradually oxidize a mixture of the compressed air and the fuel to increase the thermal energy and drive the gas turbines. The oxidizer may reduce the generation of the undesirable compounds by heating a mixture of the fuel and the compressed air to a temperature sufficient to convert the mixture to carbon dioxide and water while maintaining the temperature below a temperature at which the undesirable compounds may be generated. While utilizing the oxidizer may reduce the generation of the undesirable compounds in the exhaust of the gas turbine, the amount of heat or thermal energy generated in the oxidizers may often be released therefrom for an extended period of time, which may be detrimental to the gas turbine and/or components thereof during one or more modes of operation. For example, during a temporary shutdown of the gas turbine (e.g., maintenance, repair, surge event, etc.) the release of the thermal energy from the oxidizer may result in damage to the gas turbine and/or components thereof.
What is needed, then, is an improved gas turbine assembly and method for operating the gas turbine assembly.